Blogs from Windsor, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

Andy says: So now only 3 weeks to go before we head to Asia and, while Vietnam is remaining an unplanned adventure, I’ve pretty much planned the shit out of Thailand!!! Still unsure as to when I’m leaving my job but either way I need to get cracking on packing up the house ready to leave all my crap at Mum’s and sort out boring stuff like tax rebates and mail redirections which is a ballache because all I can really think about is being on a beach. Pretty much got everything together that I need to take now including a shiny new backpack which will hopefully be a shadow of its former self when we get back, a new lens for the SLR after smashing the previous one during a drunken night in Finland and ... read more

“I’m outside” said the text message from Amer the taxi driver at 5.45am in the morning, it was taking me to the airport – but this time I was not flying, this time I was going with him to pick up Gideon (Ghana) and Suitbert (Tanzania). For both Gideon and Suitbert it was their first trip to the UK, for Gideon it was his first time on a plane and I knew they were excited. The Travelodge, is not the most helpful of hotels, good prices especially in Windsor but not helpful. By the time we hit the road they would have arrived at the hotel at 9.30am, they were not able to check in until 12 noon and the hotel would not watch their bags for them either! It was agreed with my parents that ... read more

Westminster Abby (no pictures of inside allowed) * ridiculously tall ceilings! stonework is exquisite! *the Chapel of the "Order of the Knights of Bath"- knights who are installed are given a stall/chair with a plaque of their coat of arms attached, head piece and flag hang above. When they die, the plaque stays and the rest is returned to their family. Every four years, new knights are installed *names I recognized in the Dead Poets' Corner- Jane Austen (not actually buried here), William Shakespeare, Geoffry Chauser, Robert Browing, John Masefield, Lewis Caroll, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, George Hangel, Emily Bronte, Dr Johnson *Oliver Cromwell lead civil war against the monarch and became Lord Protector for 5 years (until his death). He was buried in Westminster Abbey, which would be similar to Darwin being buried ... read more

With a break in the rain forecast, we thought it best to make a trip to Legoland while the sun shone. We were up and out nice and early - not much chance of sleeping in with Lego in Little Cocky’s sights! Before too long, we were all happily immersed in the land of the little plastic brick. Cocky and I liked the Lego miniatures the best, of which there were plenty to look at all around the park. The miniature village, featuring landmarks from all over the world was a special highlight. If asked to choose a favourite part, Little Cocky would be hard pressed to name just one thing, but would likely list the train ride and driving school high on his list. Margery had very kindly packed us a picnic lunch, which we ... read more

Geo: 51.48, -0.605995We arrived in England after a very long flight from Sydney. It was 8 hours from Sydney to Singapore and then another 13 hours from there to London. We were quite happy to get off that plane. We picked up our rental a car and it was off to Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. We really enjoyed our tour of the castle. It was interesting to see the state rooms, St.George's Chapel and the lovely grounds. The Queen was in residence while we were there, as it was Ascot Weekend. Ascot is the famous horserace. It is a very prestigious event. We saw lots of people dressed in their best finery for the event.Later that day we visited Winchester which is a lovely country town ... read more